The development of circuit board manufacturing methods and packaging methods aims at, among other things, a denser layout of electrical components on the circuit board, a thinner circuit board structure, and improving the mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties of the circuit board. A further key issue is the improvement of the yield and reliability of the manufacturing process.
Patent specification U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,682 discloses a method for manufacturing a thin packaged semiconductor component entity. The method comprises molding an integrated circuit within an encapsulation material to protect the circuit and to attach it to an external structure. According to the specification, the method facilitates the placing of the integrated circuit in an external structure.
Patent application publication US 2006/0090334 discloses a method for manufacturing memory cards. The disclosed method comprises packaging integrated components contained in the memory card and molding them into a mold in larger component groups using a single mold. According to the application, using a single mold speeds up the manufacturing of memory cards and reduces the manufacturing costs.
In both of the documents mentioned, U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,682 and US 2006/0090334, an integrated circuit or a component is wire-bonded to a conductive pattern. As in the methods and circuit board structures in accordance with the publications U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,682 and US 2006/0090334, electrical components are connected to the conductive pattern through wire bonds, the electrical contact between the component and the conductive pattern, susceptible to disturbances, is exposed to the environment. Such mutual positioning of wire bonds, components and the conductive pattern makes an encapsulation of the integrated circuit more difficult and increases the risk of the conductive pattern and the electrical contacts (wire bonds) between the component terminals and the conductive pattern becoming damaged, e.g., during encapsulation or other phases of the circuit board manufacturing process. This deteriorates the reliability and stability of the manufacturing process and the circuit board structure.